Wow - the last couple of months have been simply amazing - absolutely amazing.
The guitarists have been blessed enough to be able to endorse Randall Amplification. They both have full stacks now - with Kevin G going for the tube head, and Kevin S going solid state. They both love them. Both heads are absolutely amazing. I have to say that being a tube guy myself - the solid state Randall head sounds truly wonderful - from a full out metal distortion ripping your head off - to a nice gentle clean sound - it does it all with ease. Very nice stuff - we are blessed.
We've also come into possession of a 15 passenger van. :) SO - when travelling now we can all travel in one vehicle. With a trailer, we can travel with all our own gear, including the PA. Nice. God is good!!
The PA has recently seen some updates. We now have 4 of the Peavy 2x15" speakers. We also have 2 x 18" subs - and we may be growing again. As it turns out - we'll be playing The Cornerstone Festival in Bushnell, IL - one of the biggest, and I believe the first, Christian festivals around. This is absolutely huge. We will be playing the Sanctuary Tent - courtesy of our folks at Sanctuary International - yes, the folks from Bobfest!! - and we couldn't be more thrilled! We may be providing the sound as well. . . I'll keep you posted.
So - > keep July 5 - 8 open - come on down and check us out - I'm sure the weather will be grand! :)
Friday, March 17, 2006
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Rotosound
As you may have guessed by now - or by looking in the menu on the right, I am now a Rotosound endorsee. Here's the story....
I had been playing flats, halfs, grounds - just about any kind of 'wound' string there was, because round wounds were just too bright for me. I had tried all kinds of rounds, D'Addario, Ernie Balls, Fender, Elixirs, GHS - and they were all tirelessly bright. Irritatingly bright. I wanted something that had more of a mid-range bite, something that had some pronouncement, but that didn't sound like a fat guitar string. Something with some meat to it - something with some bass to it!!
I found Rotosounds because, well they've been around forever - first Round wound bass string - and are used by some of the top - and my favorite - bassists, Geddy Lee, Steve Harris, Billy Sheehan - some of the top names in the biz! I started out with the monel flats - and I loved 'em. They were flat-sounding - very thumpy - but they also had a certain brightness to them, and not a harsh bright - but you could slap them. So, I thought to myself, maybe I should try some of the others to see how different they sound. I started off with the half-wounds - and I didn't really like them. So then - since my gear hounding is near endless - I thought I should try the nickel rounds. That would be better - and less bright, to be sure. They were less bright - but had a great sound to them as well - almost exactly what I was looking for. . . almost. :) So then I bit the bullet and tried the Swing Bass 66's - the Stainless Steel Rounds - the originals.
I was blown away. They were brighter - to be sure - but that irritating harshness was not there. The mid-range bite was. I was thrilled!
I haven't used anything else since.
Now, in StrangeLand we decided to downtune - so that makes it a whole step, so I'm tuning D-G-C-F - and I thought about getting heavier guage strings to compensate. Now I'm using .50 - .110 guage 66's Swing Bass. Wow - they are think - but honestly, not that much thicker than the .45 - .105 that I have been using. I have my Euro Spector with the heavier, and my Euro LX with the Medium strings - tuned the default E-A-D-G. I use that bass with Jeremiah's Journey gigs. I love that bass. :)
I had been playing flats, halfs, grounds - just about any kind of 'wound' string there was, because round wounds were just too bright for me. I had tried all kinds of rounds, D'Addario, Ernie Balls, Fender, Elixirs, GHS - and they were all tirelessly bright. Irritatingly bright. I wanted something that had more of a mid-range bite, something that had some pronouncement, but that didn't sound like a fat guitar string. Something with some meat to it - something with some bass to it!!
I found Rotosounds because, well they've been around forever - first Round wound bass string - and are used by some of the top - and my favorite - bassists, Geddy Lee, Steve Harris, Billy Sheehan - some of the top names in the biz! I started out with the monel flats - and I loved 'em. They were flat-sounding - very thumpy - but they also had a certain brightness to them, and not a harsh bright - but you could slap them. So, I thought to myself, maybe I should try some of the others to see how different they sound. I started off with the half-wounds - and I didn't really like them. So then - since my gear hounding is near endless - I thought I should try the nickel rounds. That would be better - and less bright, to be sure. They were less bright - but had a great sound to them as well - almost exactly what I was looking for. . . almost. :) So then I bit the bullet and tried the Swing Bass 66's - the Stainless Steel Rounds - the originals.
I was blown away. They were brighter - to be sure - but that irritating harshness was not there. The mid-range bite was. I was thrilled!
I haven't used anything else since.
Now, in StrangeLand we decided to downtune - so that makes it a whole step, so I'm tuning D-G-C-F - and I thought about getting heavier guage strings to compensate. Now I'm using .50 - .110 guage 66's Swing Bass. Wow - they are think - but honestly, not that much thicker than the .45 - .105 that I have been using. I have my Euro Spector with the heavier, and my Euro LX with the Medium strings - tuned the default E-A-D-G. I use that bass with Jeremiah's Journey gigs. I love that bass. :)
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